Howto LIFT you case off the floor and get more AIR in?

Most homes in the U.S. have carpeted floor; we all know too well most ATX tower cases anchored or sunken into the carpet with those tiny rubber pads called feet. Are you sick and tired of dragging your PC from under the desk out? How about letting in more outside air? $4 to get your rig higher on the rug in 5 minutes and get more air from your front panel for $1 in about 30 minutes.

The Beginning

How it begins :

Not until recently, high end cases with roller wheels are installed. There are roller wheels made for PC requiring drilling or tedious installation. To compound the “sunken” feeling, almost all low/mid end cases do not have decent unobstructed front air intake. Yet, they all have some sort of slot opening underneath the front panel which is so close to the carpet, it’s virtually useless in getting outside air to the case.

Lifting the case a couple of inches (~5 cm) from the floor will be the way to go; Getting more functional vent holes in the front panel the easy way with no fuss will even be better, rather than spending over a hundred dollars for new case and half a day switching things over. I have a better way to spend my day off.

Okay, how about 5 minutes to lift the case up; or about 15 to 30 minutes to make some functional opening on the front panel. Sounds to you? The first part is not much an issue for Lazyman, while the second part requires some sort of motivation if you are not into the daring kind of "things".

First, I painted the "red" Xpider Gamer II to "BLACK" something I wanted to do for almost a year. Red just doesn't quite suit my character.

Then, you need about 12" (30 cm) long 1/2" (1.2 cm) wide 3M double sided tape or whatever size you can find, nothing a pair of scissors won't make it fit.

Cut/trim and apply the tape to the base of the wheels.

I chose to use the existing pads to guide the position of the wheels.

And, my case no longer drags on the carpet. Should I need to get to the back panel, I simply "wheel" it out.

I have put my rigs on wheels for quite sometimes; they stay on pretty darn good using 3M double sided tape. Removal requires a simple "strong" twist, I mean strong.

Okay, that is about it. However, rigs sit on the floor do attract more dust than sitting high above on the table. Let's find out ->

Comment
from goingpostale1@ 2005/10/17

Good Article, think the same products will work on my Antec Full Tower Server case? By Full I mean FULL the thing weighs a decent amount and is all steel.

Comment
from Sidney@ 2005/10/17

I don't see why not; the wheels position the same as the "pads"; there are other types too. I have used "small wheels" like these.

The one in the photo is free. Go to Ikea store, there are racks there fill with parts that customers claim missing in their package. Happened the cabinet I purhased did short me one wheel, when I went and asked they told me to take whatever I need. I took 5